Peter Forster

Who is Peter Forster?

Peter Robert Forster is a British Anglican bishop and a Lord Spiritual He is currently the Bishop of Chester in the Church of England.

Born in Solihull, the son of Thomas and Edna, Forster was educated at the town's Tudor Grange Grammar School and Merton College, Oxford, where he received a Master of Arts in chemistry in 1973. At Edinburgh University, he graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity in theology in 1977 and became a Doctor of Philosophy in 1985.

From 1980 to 1982, Forster was assistant curate of the Mossley Hill Parish Church in Liverpool. He was senior tutor at St John's College, Durham from 1983 to 1991 and became the vicar of Beverley Minster in 1992. In 1996, he was appointed the 40th Bishop of Chester and became a Lord Spiritual at the House of Lords in 2001.

Forster has been married to Elisabeth Anne Forster since 1978; they have two sons and two daughters.

In 2003, Forster raised controversy when he was investigated by police for alleged "hate speech" after suggesting that homosexual people should seek psychiatric treatment. No charges were made and the police were satisfied that no offence had been committed.